3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,D ecem ber 23,2021 insidehalton.com For a Free consultation call oakville: 905.842.2022 ToronTo: 416.644.3999 Denied Disabled Benefits? I canhelp. My teamof experienced lawyers can help youwith: •Disability Claims Short-TermDisability, long-TermDisability, CPP •Car accidents •Slip and Falls •Wrongful Dismissal Injured? I don't get paid unless I getYoumoneY. oFFiCeS in oakville and ToronTo eMail: sspadafora@slspc.ca Disability and EmploymEnt law Disability Founded in 1991 Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® Accepting new clients. Please visit www.watsoninvestments.com to book a free consultation. Offering safe virtual meetings and e-signatures for new client onboarding. "Our clients enjoy talking about their retirement dreams and we enjoy helping them get there." Peter & Jennifer info@watsoninvestments.com (905) 842 -2100 Wishing you a season that's merry and bright! The Ontario Land Tri- bunal (OLT) will be hear- ing evidence on a conten- tious development pro- posed for a parcel of land at 2170 Postmaster Drive. The OLT has set a date of May 22 to hear argu- ments about the project. The parties are develop- er Branthaven West Oak Inc. (BWO), the Town of Oakville, Halton Region and the residents of the ar- ea around the subject land. Branthaven has taken the town to the OLT for a lack of decision on their devel- opment application per- taining to the Postmaster Drive location. In 2020, Branthaven West Oak Inc. applied to de- velop 59 townhouses on the green field location at the corner of Postmaster Drive and Westoak Trails Blvd. The developer at the time asked the Town of Oakville to rezone the area from a community use (CU) to res- idential medium 1 and 2 (RM 1 and RM 2). CU zoning permits things like parks, art gal- leries and community cen- tres. RM 1 and RM 2 allow two different types of medi- um density development. Townhouses are an exam- ple of this. Branthaven revised its application in April of 2021. It has since applied for a new zoning amendment of an RM1 designation for 54 homes. The proposed develop- ment is right in the middle of a low-density neighbour- hood near Third Line and Upper Middle Road West. Residents have expressed concern about this project. Councillors at a September public meeting called the project an overbuild. May- or Rob Burton, at the time, even said the project is typ- ical of Branthaven and that 28 units would be sufficient instead of 59. "They are asking for a 0.4 metre rear yard. I think if we took a ruler, that is barely 0.4 metres," resident Joan Pinto said while showing a ruler in an inter- view with the Oakville Bea- ver. "This is quite ridicu- lous," she added. "If there was someone, an individu- al, trying to build a home or trying to extend their exist- ing property within this ar- ea and would ask for these types of zoning amend- ments, I'm sure the town would shoot them down." The Town of Oakville's planning team said that section 34 of the Planning Act allows applicants to change regulatory mini- mums in zoning bylaws: "Applications for amend- ments to the standard zon- ing regulations are evalu- ated in accordance with ap- plicable policies, including the town's official plan, to prevent impacts on the sur- rounding area." Halton Region staff said the only issue their party has is regarding "an out- standing requirement for an updated Letter of Reli- ance as it related to the ap- plicant's submitted Envi- ronmental Site Assess- ment reports." A Letter of Reliance is a document that conveys the right for parties to rely on the contents of a docu- ment. The Oakville Beaver reached out to Branthaven West Oak Inc. for com- ment. No reply was provid- ed by deadline. In March 2020, Brantha- ven, with the assistance of developer Glen Schnarr and Associates Inc., pub- lished a planning justifica- tion report for the original 59 homes proposal. The re- port concludes that the proposal falls in line with the "Provincial Policy Statement, the Growth Plan, the Region of Halton Official Plan and the poli- cies of the Town of Oakville Livable Oakville Official Plan." The provincial policy statement lays out land use planning within the prov- ince. The Growth Plan is a provincial road map for higher densities in re- sponse to future popula- tion growth. Branthaven's report al- so says that its develop- ment is a "compact" devel- opment that is "transit sup- portive" and represents a "level of density" that can be "supported by existing surrounding community infrastructure." "The project that they are planning is not within the guidelines of this area," Pinto said. "It is a predomi- nantly low-density area." TRIBUNAL SETS HEARING DATE FOR CONTENTIOUS DEVELOPMENT PLANS MANSOOR TANWEER mtanweer@metroland.com NEWS Many residents are opposed to a subdivision for this neighbourhood. Town of Oakville photo